Early Modern Architecture in Korea, 1850s-1950s.

Busan (2)

After the port’s opening in 1876, the lands in the northern part of the island of Yeongdo, formerly known as both Makishima and Jeolyoung Island (Jeoryeongdo), may have been appropriated by Japanese colonists as early as the 1880s.1 However, some parts of the island were definitely occupied by 1885 when a concession was granted for the stated purpose of constructing a naval coal station.2Makishima lay across the bay opposite of the old exclusive Japanese residential zone in present day Nampo-dong and acted as a kind of physical buffer between ships coming into port from the open sea and the mainland section of Busan. The new Meiji government in Japan, being imperialistic, was coming into contact with foreign countries more often. The spread of disease became a concern for Japanese officials as cholera had transferred to Japan via China.

For example, just one year after Busan’s port was opened, a Japanese sailor with the Takaomaru fleet took ill with cholera and was moved from the Japanese settlement in Nampo-dong to Yeongdo,3 presumably to limit his exposure to people on the mainland. The existence of a quarantine hospital on Yeongdo is confirmed by explorer Isabella Bird, who also noted that “waterworks have been constructed by a rate of 100 cash levied on each house, and it is hoped that the present abundant supply of pure water will make an end of the frequent epidemics of cholera.”4 Various quarantine, fumigation, and inspection protocols were invoked throughout colonial Japanese ports, partially because there was little the Japanese government could do back home. Treaties between Western powers and Japan from 1854-1858 limited what the Japanese Meiji government could do in its own home ports, thus port protocols would sometimes become more strict in all its occupied, colonial port settlements as a way to indirectly influence Nipponeseports.

Yeongdo’s history is still evident in the number of brick warehouses that remain. Many have been cemented over, but between cracked bits of concrete, the original red bricked frames can be seen. A few, like one pictured below, remain completely exposed. Another common feature of Japanese warehouse design was raised, gabled roof venting that allowed for air flow. However, there are more than just warehouses along Yeongdo’s coastline. The neighborhoods of Daepyeongdong 2(i)-ga, Daepyeongdong 1(il)-ga, Daegyodong 1(il)-ga, Daegyodong 2(i)-ga, Bongnaedong 1(il)-dong, and Namhang-dong retain colonial shops, Japanese homes, modernist corner buildings, and company houses.

In addition to having a number of boat yards, ironworks, and foundries, a U.S. military map from the 1950s5 shows that there were at least eight salt refineries on Yeongdo. A Korean pottery company, the Pokto Twine Mill, Cheongseong (Chŏngsŏng) Rice Mill, and a “Fishery Experimental Station” were scattered along the northwestern coast facing Nampo. It was also the location of the Standard Oil Company, Rising Sun Oil Company, and Ipaeok (Ipaŏk) Oil Refinery. The island also apparently had a previous history of “breeding horses of very small size” that extended, at least, into the 1890s.6

A number of the smaller buildings are now occupied by machinists, engineers, and mechanics. A handful may be offices, but many workshops were outfitted with vertically sliding garage doors. The neighborhoods of Daepyeongdong 2(i)-ga, Daepyeongdong 1(il)-ga contain modernist corner buildings, Japanese homes, and even a warehouse structure that appears to retain its original company logo on the facade.

Namhang-dong includes a row of picturesque colonial and post-liberation buildings. Once off the actual waterfront, facing inland, there are a few more structures. Of note is another house with a diamond window and a wood-paneled Japanese warehouse.

Later, in 1934, the bascule-styled Yeongdo Bridge was completed to physically link it with the mainland.